THQ

From Sega Retro

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.

THQ, Inc. (Toy Headquarters), originally styled T-HQ Inc. until 1997, is a former California-based toy manufacturer. It was founded by Jack Friedman, who had previously created LJN.

While initially set up to create toy lines, THQ entered the video game business after purchasing Brøderbund's video game division in the September of 1990. This division became T-HQ Software, until THQ pulled out of the toy market completely in 1994.

THQ rose to prominence in the 1990s, not just strictly as a third-party publisher, but as a product distributor for companies such as Midway and, from 1995 onwards, Electronic Arts[1]. In the mid-1990s, THQ also chose to publish several of its games under the Black Pearl Software label - a company it had acquired in 1993.

A UK division, T-HQ International, Ltd., traded under its own banner for a short period, before reverting to a similar logo as its American parent company.

Many early, but not all SegaGame Boy Advance games were published by THQ in the US, and Sega published a number of THQ titles in Japan during this time period (before THQ set up its own Japanese subsidiary).

THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2013. As part of their liquidation process, THQ's subsidiary Relic Entertainment was sold to Sega[2].